by Rachel Howells

Created on: April 13, 2009   Last Updated: December 02, 2009

The young woman ignored
The no hitchhiking warning.
She had already been through a lot,
And she was in mourning.

The night before, her father
Had committed suicide.
Good riddance she thought,
And stuck her thumb out for a ride.

She grew up and was living
Through a harsh reality,
Incest, alcohol, drug addiction,
Rape and other brutality.

She was molested by her father,
Her uncle and her brother.
When she was five,
Crystal meth took her mother.

At 13 she quit school and
Moved in with her dealer pimp.
He put her on crack cocaine,
Beat her up and left her with a limp.

Working the streets she has
Survived many terrible things.
Hitchhiking didn't scare her!
As she stood there in spandex leggings.

She believed she could handle anything,
Waiting on that deserted highway stretch.
On either side, thick reaching forests
Engulfed the lonely wretch.

So small and insignificant
She looked standing there,
Not understanding the danger,
She was completely unaware.

When the rusty old moving van
Finally slowed down,
She jumped in with a Thank You Man -
Never to be found.

From Prince Rupert to Prince George,
This is the way it has gone over the years;
With a growing body count,
They now call it the Highway of Tears.

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